Starting on 01 December 2016, ICANN [the governing body of all things internet] has mandated adjustments to the newly renamed Transfer Policy to now include registrant [domain owner] to registrant [domain owner] changes. The amended Transfer Policy is applicable to all gTLD names [all domains except country level ones] and ICANN-accredited registrars.

Every time a change of registrant [owner] contact takes place, the policy is called upon and a series of confirmation / approval e-mails will be sent out. What’s important to note is that simple updates to a registrant’s first name, last name, organisation and e-mail address on a particular domain will trigger this new policy. Updating the owner's mailing address and telephone number will NOT require confirmation.

Policy is triggered by any of these changes:

• Registrant’s first name

• Registrant’s second name

• Registrant’s organisation

• Registrant’s e-mail address

Do you need to do anything now?

No, this policy isn't prompting any action. Only if you want to change the ownership details of a domain, then you will go through a more involved process to complete the update. We just needed to inform all of our customers that the ability to update your domain ownership will be changing.

What domains does this new policy effect:

• This policy effects ALL TLD/gTLD domain names such as .COM, .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, .INFO, .CLUB, .BERLIN, .WEB, .GURU and .MARKETING to name just a few.

• This policy does NOT effect ccTLDs [country level] domains like .CA, .AU, .UK, .US, .FR amongst the hundred or so more we offer.

Steps of the Transfer Policy:

Effective 01 December, updates to the ownership will be start this process of approval:

1. Once the update is made, then the New Registrant will receive an e-mail asking:

--> to approve or decline the Change of Registrant,

--> to confirm that their information is correct (as per Registrant Verification), and

--> accept ZoneEdit [easyDNS] to act as a Designated Agent for all future changes of registrant (automatic)

2. Once the change has been approved by the New Registrant, then an e-mail will be sent to the Prior Registrant asking:

--> to approve or decline the Change of Registrant, and

--> opt out of the 60-day registrar transfer lock after a Change of Registrant (optional).

3. After a change of registrant has been completed, prior and new registrant will receive a confirmation notice informing them that the change has completed. Even if the e-mail address of the Prior and New Registrant are the same, the policy requires this notice to be sent to in two separate e-mails. There is no further response required from registrants at this point of the process.

4. After a change of registrant has been completed, the domain is by default locked for transfers to a new registrar for the following 60 days.

What is the Designated Agent?

This is basically a pre-authorisation given to ZoneEdit [easyDNS] by the New Registrant when confirming the update for any future updates. This makes future updates easier as you don't have to receive an e-mail to confirm the update. If both the New Registrant and the Prior Registrant have accepted ZoneEdit [easyDNS] as the Designated Agent, then the change goes through immediately and both contacts receive the e-mail notifying the completion of the process. If you enter into the Designated Agreement, any other domain that has the exact same registrant information will also be applied. ZoneEdit is automatically enabling this for all domains as we want these processes to be as easy as possible for our clients.

What is this 60 Day Lock?

Like the inability to transfer a domain between registrars for 60 days, the new addition of registrant changes also follows that same rule. This will be an option for the Prior Registrant [the owner at the beginning of this process] to opt-out of the 60 day hold only. The new registrant does NOT have the ability to opt-out of this 60 day lock.

What is the purpose of this policy change?

There has been a long standing concern over domain security and how to prevent domain hijacking. ICANN has taken the step to make it increasingly difficult now to avoid such hijackings. Unfortunately, it's a heavy handed approach and doesn't take into consideration the security levels of registrars and their processes. The new policy, as it stands now, basically makes it harder for domain owners to manage their own domains.

Who is ICANN?

ICANN [The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers] is an international non-profit corporation that is responsible for Domain name system management [of generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) domains], Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, and root server system management functions. They basically call the shots on how domain registries, registrars and registrants have to manage their domains. Their website is https://www.icann.org/ - and if you want to read ICANN's page on this Transfer Policy, please visit https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/transfer-policy-2015-09-24-en

What happens if one of the contacts does not confirm the process?

In case the New or Prior Registrant decline a change, or the request times out after 7 days, the entire process is aborted, and the present owner details will stay in place. Both contacts must confirm the process or it will not complete the update.

What happens if the current e-mail address is defunct?

If the current registrant's e-mail is invalid or not accessible, then we can wait and re-attempt when that address is accessible or send an SMS [text message] to the telephone number supplied for the currently owner. If the phone number is incorrect, then it will need to be updated and ZoneEdit can resubmit the request to SMS to the new telephone number. Updating the telephone number of the registrant does not require confirmation.

What happens if there's an active process and another update is submitted?

In the event there's an active process underway and another change to the registrant is made, it will cancel the first request.

What if your telephone number is not a mobile number?

Some land line phone numbers will relay a SMS message but it might be wise to use your mobile number for this process.

What happens if the Prior [current] Registrant refuses to confirm the process?

There may be cases when you won't be able to get the co-operation of the current registrant and unfortunately there isn't a way for ZoneEdit to bypass the confirmation processes. You will need to work this out directly with the registrant to get their co-operation.

What if my domain has Whois privacy enabled, does this still apply to my domain?

It will be still necessary to complete the Transfer Policy process.

We will be adding more information to this article as we deem necessary.